Reeling from a global backlash against fast-food, McDonald's has entered into an unusual partnership with Chinese education authorities which will see the company giving nutrition classes in elementary schools. The group has created a Ronald McDonald clown show for schools which combines encouragement to do physical activity with educational material about nutrition.

The shows have been put on in thousands of schools, and comes when obesity rates are beginning to rise sharply in China's cities, especially among children, because of changes in diet and levels of physical activity. The company insists that the clowns do not talk about the company's food.

Analysts say McDonald's was potentially vulnerable to a backlash against fatty food because it was popular among the young, where obesity rates are rising the fastest. Although McDonald's had recently introduced more healthy options in China, it was also heavily marketing a "Mega Mac Burger".

The Chinese government has become increasingly concerned about nutrition as evidence has mounted of a serious obesity problem. According to a recent study published in the British Medical Journal, 30% of Chinese under 18 are overweight and a further 7.1% are obese. The obesity level among children increased 28 times between 1985 and 2000, while 281m people in all were overweight or obese.

NamNews - Tuesday 28th November 2006

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